Nova Polemos
THE FOLLOWING PAGE IS JUST A DRAFT AND WORK TO EXPAND IT IS CURRENTLY UNDER WAY. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS HIGHLY FRAGMENTED AND FOR THE MOST PART INCOMPLETE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS THUS A MUST, ALSO BECAUSE OF THE INEVITABLE SPOILERS.*** Introduction: Nova Polemos is a fictional city and the main setting of the videogame Dry Drowning. History: Nova Polemos was founded in 2017 in a deserted area in Northern Europe by the will of the Canburrys, considered one of the most rich and influent families on the planet. Created as a symbol of independence and as an alternative destination for those seeking a new place where they belonged, the city's popularity grew very fast, resulting in a demographic boom that made the population count reach one million in just ten years since its foundation. The rate of economic growth and social progress was just as remarkable, resulting in the city acquiring a state of full independence on the international scene, where it stands on its own among other actors such as NeoEurope and the Asian totalitarian states (though some time during the following years the latter would attract Nova Polemos in their geopolitcal orbit of influence). The city's development stopped abruptly in 2030 due to the sudden burst of an economic bubble, which caused an unprecedented finantial crisis. The devastating consequences prompted the city to take more decisive actions, which likely caused the progressive introduction of many of its widely known ill-famed features, including government censorship and a very strict border policy regarding both people and information who travel in both ways (up to a point the city is widely unknown to the outer world, similarly to real world's North Korea). One particular instance can be inferred from Hera Kairis' Biography files: Nova Polemos used the iron fist against immigration in the year 2036, resulting in all borders being closed and the death of many of the immigrants who had departed in search of a better future. As specified elsewhere, this was ultimately part of a three years long cycle of violence that occurred in the wake of the massive political success of the Black Bands, meaning a general election won by said party likely took place in the same year or slightly earlier. Under their government around 230.000 individuals deemed socially invalid were forcibly expelled from the city, resulting for the first time in history in racism being carried out not by standards related to culture, race or language but mere social value. Another very important instance of said discrimination was the introduction of the Patterson test, which the Black Bands were also responsible for. The biggest culprits of the massacre would eventually be put under arrest, forcing the party to take a much more moderate stance. Immigration remains nevertheless a hot topic even in contemporary politics and gets often mentioned in daily newspapers as shown at the beginning of Chapter 1. Likewise, the city has also maintained very rigid cultural standards in regards to the citizen's usefulness, efficiency and productivity (with people who demand days off or permits usually stigmatized as parasites and often monitored by the government too). In spite of certain political factions claiming otherwise (most notably the Black Bands), the city is visibly struggling in keeping its order: many parts of its major plaza (Talon Square) have been clearly vandalized and the police itself has over time felt entitled to become more and more aggressive, enough so that it is now intolerant of even the most trivial things (a fine example being Freya Goldsoul's change of sex). The level of corruption that plagues the city is also extremely high, enough so that honest people such as Freya herself are usually labeled as potential dangers rather than useful resources (though it's unclear whether said corruption is more of a cause or consequence of the skyrocketing distrust in institutions). Surprisingly enough, crime rates are actually extremely low (expecially homicides) suggesting the police's brutality was successful in containing at least the most violent expressions of people's discomfort, enough so that the occurence of murders is usually lived as a real shock (often prompting the police to cover it up as quickly as possible). A collateral effect of the degeneration of institutions into sheer brutality (best represented by how often the city applies capital punishment) was also an even sharper decrease of people's interest and awareness on political issues of this kind: 85% of the citizens don't even know a single article of the Constitution originally written in the wake of the city's foundation as they don't contemplate its usefulness anymore. These elements suggest an increasing number of citiziens must have lost faith in the city's institutions at some point (likely during or following the financial crisis). The ultimate result however is that they now find themselves living in an institutional context they know nothing about but from which they are simultaneously feeling the social and economic pressure to its fullest, a pattern that has historically preceeded the outbreak of very violent revolutions in countries like France or Russia (some narrative branches actually corroborate this likelihood in more than one way). Part of the people's distorted vision is most definitely caused by the already mentioned instense censorship, which is enforced thanks to a network of several highly technological components. The cornerstone of this architecture is the AquaOS system, which is the digital infrastructure all the information within the city travels on (kind of like the city's own world wide web). A honorable mention must also go to Caligula, an operating system also capable of web browsing that happens to be the only one made available to citizens and legal to use (import or use of foreign counterparts is punished with jail or forced expulsion from the city). Citizens who pass the Patterson test are allowed its use but both the police and secret services will have free access to their information, making privacy a very relative concept since encrypting communication data is nearly impossible (though different standards exist depending on how privileged a given individual is). Since digital communication is strictly surveiled the only way to transfer information without getting caught is to do so physically using old storage chips (as done by Mordred in Chapter 1). Freedom of press and information quality is also very poor given only three newspapers exist, all belonging to major political parties. The governments' attempts to control the population, distort their views and limit potentially subversive behaviours have been at least partly successful since the population itself fails to see in the AquaOS system a danger: most people actually enjoy its enclosed architecture as what scares them the most is instead the outside world and more generally anything that could break their status quo (since they consider themselves elitists and fear contamination). Gender disparity is also strong in Nova Polemos, with women occupying lead positions in only 5% of the cases. It is unclear whether this trait was a consequence of the cultural changes the city suffered during its roughest period or had always been standard. Trivia: * In 2048, Nova Polemos actively enforced the UN Anti-Tobacco Act. As a result, all cigarette packs are sold unbranded and with grotesque graphics depicting the consequences of smoking. * Tasers are illegal in Nova Polemos. * Though never clearly stated, Nova Polemos must be located on a coast or near an estuary since water is displayed in many different shots of the city. Moreover, upon fleeing the city in Chapter 4A Mordred adopts the surname "Pitrowski" to disguise himself, suggesting the city must also be very close to slavic speaking countries located in Eastern Europe (this hypothesis is furtherly corroborated by the geopolitical position of the city, kind of caught in between Europe on one side and unspecified Asian totalitarian states on the other).